Blues lay off several employees in midst of NHL lockout

ST. LOUIS (KMOV) – The St. Louis Blues have laid off some employees in the midst of the NHL lockout.

A team source on Monday confirmed it laid off nearly 20 front-officers last week. The official said 75 other employees took pay cuts. Some even switched to four-day work weeks, the team said.

The laid-off employees worked in an array of departments at Scottrade Center. Some of them will likely be brought back if and when the lockout ends.

The Blues regular season is scheduled to begin October 11 in Denver. The NHL has already cancelled all pres-season games through September.

The NHL Players Associated and teams owners continue to be far apart on how to allocate the league’s revenues. Players want salaries to stay roughly the same while owners have been calling for a bigger piece of the pie.

The two sides are returning to the bargaining table Friday. It will be the first formal negotiations since September 12, when the players and owners exchanged proposals.

Neither of those offers gained much traction and the lockout started at midnight on September 15.